Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The Specialty

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) is a sub-specialty in Psychiatry and deals with the diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorders from infancy to mid-teens. The approaches to treatment, besides psychopharmacological interventions, are many and varied: from psychodynamic psychotherapy to family therapy. Trainees will also receive experience in the diagnosis of developmental disorders in children and a variety of psychotherapeutic interventions. The work emphasises a multi-disciplinary approach and leadership skills.

Specialty Attractions

CAP is a developing field: mental health problems in children show an increasing trend. The Government has acknowledged the importance of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and there have been a number of initiatives.

The range of settings where CAP is carried out varies from paediatric liaison to forensic adolescent psychiatry and inpatient adolescent settings. In the course of the training, one would be expected to undertake courses in family therapy, individual psychodynamic psychotherapy, and cognitive and behavioural therapy. On-call duties are not onerous, particularly in community based units.

Personal qualities should include:

Ability to engage families and children

Professional attributes necessary to work as part of a team

Provide leadership and develop services.

Must enjoy psychotherapy, biological psychiatry or service management - or all three

Contacts

About Us

Here at Health Education England (West Midlands) we aim to offer our medical and dental trainees the highest quality training, supervision and support. This is because we believe excellence in education and training is at the heart of delivering excellent patient care. We hope you will spend many enjoyable and rewarding years with us developing your medical or dental career.